Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one ha' penny, two ha' penny...

We have one chef who is more eclectic in nature, but his laid back personality is always a refreshing welcome after getting our usual pounding.  His talent allows him to basically say whatever he wants, because he is so skilled. His explanation style, is somewhat 'for 18+'. As a typical French men the inevitable sexual innuendoes seem to somehow come through while showing us how to bake. "You must treat this dough like your wife, softly and gently, do not treat this dough like your lover". Its hard not to cock your head in a 'did he really just say that way'; however, I must admit that if you think about it, the man makes sense.
Today we learned to make dough for croissants, Devonshire splits, Chelsea buns, hot cross buns, and donuts. This is how we were taught to incorporate butter into the brioche dough, "now you see zis dough iz like getting a woman to fall in love, she iz resistaunt to take zee butter at first, but after she starts to take a little bit of zee butter, she realizes that she doez not have a choice in the matter and zhen she will take the butter happily, but only in small doses ya...zat part iz very importaunt". With a pastry class of 3/4 women, its is pretty bold of him to be making these statements. Funny how these comments also somehow transcend any sort of cultural miscommunication. We have over 52 countries represented at the school and somehow, no matter where we are from, these comments are always understood. As strange as it is, his teaching technique works, we always know when the dough is ready.
Baking today went wonderful and my half of the dough rose and browned perfectly. During our classes chefs walk around and comment on our progress or give us suggestions. Today, while shaping my devonshire splits, I received the comment "you must treat the dough with less love and more passion"...ok?!...more passion, huh, well I took that to mean that I was being too gentle with the dough. That must have been it, because I received high marks today in all the areas of my assembly and baking. Little did I know that in culinary school I would learn so much about love.